A deserted village Source: www.playbuzz.com (Links to an external site.)

Post-Apocalyptic means the world after the destruction of civilization. Therefore, there must be two conventions of Post-Apocalyptic genre: sense of danger and the deathly silence. In this picture, people can see the signs with nuclear symbol setting at the roadside and the mask hanging on the fence, which imply this place must suffered from a huge disaster and there still danger remains. One important elements of the Post-Apocalyptic world is what has remained after the destruction. At least,it should leave a dangerous world. On the other hand, the deathly silence can also be found in this picture. There is a flock of crow circling over head or standing on the fence. It seems like people can almost hear the sounds of cawing and the flapping. So how can these means "deathly silence". Just because of these noise from the crows which represent the death, the silence of those abandoned houses, tombs and even the broken bicycle are set off. When the cawing of the crow become the only sound in these picture, people can only experience the ruination. The sounds of the civilization are always muted in Post-Apocalyptic world.

In the fiction Station Eleven, people can find these two convention everywhere. As author Mandel write "These towns had fought off ferals, buried their neighbors, lived and died and suffered together in the blood-drenched years just after the collapse, survived against unspeakable odds and then only by holding together into the calm"(P44). Through this, readers can know that in the fiction, people are living in a Post-Apocalyptic world that may be lack of government or laws; without limits, everyone may become the potential danger to each other, in order for survival. In addition, Mandel mention "They walked slowly with weapons in hand"(P35) and "The presence of an armed guard in the middle of town suggested that the place was unsafe" (P45) also imply danger is everywhere. On the other hand, according to what Mandel write "Two years ago she’d been followed around town by a flock of children, but now she saw only two, the boy with the toy car and a girl of eleven or so who watched her from a doorway"(P45), people are informed the change of the vitality of this town. Even though it cannot be say that the town is "deathly silence", author make a feeling of tilting away vitality and toward "silence". The numb silent of the people in this town also show the emptiness in a post-apocalyptic world. As author said " The woman’s tone wasn’t unfriendly, but there was no recognition in her eyes" (P46), which also shows the deathly silence inside the person in this town, and in this post-apocalyptic world. When the survival become the only purpose, the spiritual pursuit are muted in the post-apocalyptic world.

By and large, with the convention: sense of danger and deathly silence, the post-apocalyptic world in the fiction become more realistic and more natural to us.